The Most Important Places To Declutter (and Spots You Can Skip)

While it's nice to declutter your entire house—who has time for that? Between work and family obligations, finding time to declutter even one room can be a major challenge. So, it's crucial to prioritize what to tackle first and what can wait until you have some more time. Here are the most important spaces to declutter in your home, as well as a few to skip, according to professional organizers.

Prioritize These Spaces

The Pantry and Refrigerator

According to Shantae Duckworth, professional organizer and founder of Shantaeize Your Space, the pantry and fridge should be top priorities. She says, "This is so important! You go to your kitchen every day, and you’re preparing meals often, so it is one of the most common places in the home. It's also one of the places that gets most neglected, because all we do is just buy more food items and just put them away without assessing what we already have.”

These are also two of the easiest spots in the home to declutter, because it’s far easier to get rid of last week’s leftovers than it is that sweatshirt you’ve had since college. “We are not attached to food in the ways that we are attached to clothes, shoes, and sentimental items. If the food items are expired, it’s an easy and quick decision to just discard," she says. "If they're food items that are not past the expiration date, but you know that your family is not going to consume them, it’s also easy to let go of these items and donate them to a local food bank or give them to someone else that you know would eat them.” 

Bathroom Vanities

From expired aspirin to those nearly empty tubes of Neosporin, Duckworth tells me, bathroom vanities are chock full of things you’re no longer using or you’ve forgotten about. “When it comes to organizing the space, make sure that you are grouping like items together. For example, your skincare routine should all be in one area so that you are more prone to using it every day,” she says.

After decluttering, replace any products you’re running low on and will likely need in a pinch, such as over-the-counter medications and first aid products. 

Your Bedroom

According to Lindsey Mahanna, professional organizer and founder of Clutter to Clarity, the bedroom is an ideal place to prioritize. “I recommend decluttering the primary bedroom, because that is where you start and end your day, and it should feel like a sanctuary.”

After all, it can take a while to sort through your clothing when you get dressed in the morning, so decluttering this spot can help you save time in the long run. 

One crucial space to declutter in the bedroom according to Jennifer Jarrett, professional organizer and founder of Jenuinely Contained, is the top of the nightstand. “Prioritizing keeping your bedroom clutter-free helps promote an environment of calmness and relaxation, which subsequently encourages better sleep. It is key to not let items build up and collect dust on your nightstand, and to declutter the small piles that can often accumulate along the walls in the room.”  

If you have time, consider going through your nightstand drawers once you’ve finished visible spaces. 

The Room that Stresses You Out the Most

We all have those spaces that make us cringe. Manhanna suggests prioritizing any room that’s causing you stress. She says, "If you walk in the house every day to a cluttered mudroom that makes your blood boil, that's the first place where you should declutter.”  Accomplishing this can also help give you the confidence and clarity to declutter the rest of your home. 

Here’s What To Skip

The Garage

Both Jarrett and Duckworth say it's best to skip the garage. “[It’s often] a catchall area for a lot of families because it’s such a big area to hold a lot of stuff,” says Duckworth. From those sentimental keepsakes to cases of toilet paper you purchased in bulk, there’s not a good reason for most of us to take on this space before other areas of the home.

The Linen Closet

A cluttered linen closet just isn’t that much of a problem in the grand scheme of things—while it is nice to have a tidy linen closet, this area is low on the totem pole. Typically it is an area that is behind a door and that isn’t accessed that frequently, so spend your time on visible, frequently-used areas.